Athletes engaged in sport activities have for a long time recognized the need to stay constantly hydrated. Liquid containers, such as sports bottles, provide an easily accessible liquid source for athletes and other persons engaged in various strenuous activities. Conventionally, sport bottles have had caps of multiple shapes and sizes that allow the athlete to gain easy access to the contents of the liquid container without fully removing the lid or the cap of the bottle, by way of valves of different type. There has also been an increasing trend in bottle design and innovation to adapt these bottles for greater integration with the athletes' activity and optimal ease of access to a hydration source without disturbing the activity substantially.
For pouring the liquid out of a conventional sports bottle, the cap can be screwed off, and the liquid poured out of the mouth of the bottle. Manually openable valves are also known, which can open the liquid conduit of the sports bottle by pulling on the valve mouthpiece with the fingers. In some instances, when the athlete's hands are occupied at other tasks, for instance maneuvering a bicycle, teeth or lips of the athlete may be used while the bottle is held in one hand. Further opening mechanisms requiring a certain level of dexterity or manipulations have also been explored, such as pop-out spouts which in most cases necessitate a firm grip on the bottle with one hand and another hand free for opening the spout.
However, these liquid release and sport bottle opening mechanisms can be inconvenient in many situations, particularly during strenuous activities such as cycling or running. If the cap is fully removed from a conventional sports bottle, the liquid is more likely to spill out of the bottle. Since the mouth of a conventional sports bottle has a relatively large diameter, the liquid is thus prone to fall out of the sides of the bottle and splatter onto a person's face and clothes.
Manually-actuated release mechanisms are also disadvantageous during some activities, in that they require both hands to be available, or in that the mouthpiece come in contact with the athlete's mouth, sometimes at high velocity. They can also sometimes be difficult to access properly without using the athlete's vision, causing him or her to disturb the activity to focus on the cap mechanism. Other liquid release and opening mechanisms requiring a greater degree of dexterity for manipulation also have the same limitations.